A groundbreaking filmmaking team. An NBA basketball star. A world-renowned heart surgeon and an equally renowned architect. A pillar of the Montgomery County judicial system. A Broadway star. A celebrated painter and muralist. A medical practitioner who led an extraordinary tsunami victims’ relief effort. Gifted tutors and coaches.

What common thread ties together these extraordinary people? Each will be honored this year by the Montgomery College Alumni Association at its 2005 Outstanding Alumni Awards Dinner and Athletic Hall of Fame Induction, on Friday, April 22. The event will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Theatre Arts Arena, located in the Theatre Arts Building on the College’s Rockville Campus, 51 Mannakee Street, Rockville, Md. Tickets to the dinner and awards ceremony cost $28 for adults and $10 for children 12 years old and younger.

Montgomery College’s Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award recipients are selected each year for demonstrating exemplary service to their community, profession and/or to the College. Among this year’s honorees:

• Eduardo Sanchez ’90, Stefanie Sanchez ’90, Ricardo Moreno ’91, Lonnie Glerum ’90, and Neal Fredericks ’89 collaborated in producing a low-budget horror film about three Montgomery College students who disappeared during a trip to Burkitsville, Md.—and “The Blair Witch Project” was born. The movie went on to set box-office records for an independent film.

On August 14, 2004, Neal Fredericks was traveling on a shoot for his new film when the engine failed on the small airplane in which he was riding. The plane crashed in the water off the Dry Tortugas Islands in Florida and Fredericks was unable to escape. He will be honored posthumously.

• John F. McAuliffe ’52 retired as a judge on the Court of Appeals, Maryland’s highest court, in 1993. In his career, he has worked as a committing magistrate, justice of the peace, and a Montgomery County Circuit Court judge. He has taught law to students ranging from paralegals to members of the judiciary.

• Dr. Steven W. Boyce ’75 is a world-renowned heart surgeon serving as director of heart transplant and ventricular assist device programs at Washington Hospital Center. He has pioneered new techniques in repairing heart damage, including using carbon dioxide lasers and other devices to treat patients with congestive heart failure. He has traveled worldwide teaching heart surgical procedures.

• Dr. Usa Bunnag ’90 is a dentist in private practice in Bethesda. Two years ago, she created “Smile on Wings,” a non-profit organization that provides volunteer dental outreach in rural areas of her native Thailand. Since the December 2004 tsunami, Bunnag has organized and led two trips to her homeland to provide medical and dental care.

• Eglon Oliver Daley ’89 is an artist specializing in painting and photography. While a student at the College’s Takoma Park Campus, he took almost every offering in art, and maintains a close working relationship with the Art Department faculty. Two of Daley’s most significant pieces of public art are permanently installed in the lobby of One Judiciary Square, and in the north terminal of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

• Ursula (Sue) Flatow ’72 retired in 2000 after a career as a microbiologist at NIH and began her volunteer career at Montgomery College as a Spanish, reading, English, and biology tutor and reader for the blind. She has served students through the College’s Project Success and Disability Support Services. She also helps students of English as a second language.

• Hugh Newell Jacobsen ’48 is a renowned architect who has won the National Honor Awards of the American Institute of Architects—the highest honor for architectural design in the United States—six times. Academics were difficult early on, due to a learning disability. It was not until he took courses at Montgomery College that he developed the confidence to pursue his education.

• Barbara Walsh ’75 is a Tony-nominated actress and veteran of five Broadway shows. She earned a Best Featured Musical Actress nomination for her role as Trina in the Tony Award-winning musical “Falsettos.” Currently, Walsh stars Velma Von Tussle in “Hairspray,” the musical based on the John Waters movie.

At the Alumni Awards Dinner, the Montgomery College Athletic Hall of Fame will induct its three newest members. Montgomery College coaches and former athletes are eligible for the Hall of Fame by demonstrating outstanding athletic achievement as a student, outstanding contributions as a coach, and/or outstanding athletic achievement as a player or coach after leaving Montgomery College. Among this year’s inductees:

• Terry Cox ’69 was the College’s first All-American in cross country and track and field, an honor he held in both sports for two years. He also held the title of JUCO Champion and Regional 19 NJCAA Champion in cross country for 1968 and 1969. In 1968, he was Tri-State Champion in the mile and two mile, and sixth at the NJCAA championships in the mile. In 1969, he was both Maryland JUCO Champion and Region 19 Champion in the mile and two mile.

• Dr. Frank Peterson, 1970–1999, coached 36 teams in four different sports—baseball, soccer, tennis, and golf—during his 29 years on the faculty. He was the College’s first full-time coach with a Ph.D. He was named Maryland JUCO Coach of the Year 14 times and Region XX Coach of the Year twice, coaching eight NJCAA All-Americans in both soccer and golf.

• Jerome Williams ’94 is in his ninth season of professional basketball. Drafted by the Detroit Pistons in 1996, he has played for the Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, and currently the New York Knicks. In his rookie season, he earned the nickname “Junk Yard Dog,” which he uses to promote community outreach projects. At Montgomery College, he averaged 23 points and 17 rebounds per game, and he took statewide MVP honors in his sophomore year.

To order tickets or learn more about the 2005 award recipients or the Athletic Hall of Fame inductees, call the Montgomery College Alumni Association at 301-279-5378 or e-mail alumni@montgomerycollege.edu.